West Midlands Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

From the Papers

April 2017

The Government has been called “reckless and irresponsible” after it refused to send a single representative to United Nations (UN) talks about a ban on nuclear weapons. The Foreign Office revealed that no one from the UK attended a February meeting ahead of the negotiations and no one would go to the discussions when they take place. It was responding to a parliamentary question by Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas, who told The Independent that it showed the Government was failing in its commitment to working towards a world without nuclear weapons.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has promised that Labour would bring an end to nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the first 100 days of a Labour government. Mr McDonnell said: “From the Left now […] we should now be mapping out not in manifesto form but in a manual form the first 100 days of a Labour government going into power. “The issues around energy, you immediately announce no more nuclear power. On foreign policy, you immediately say we are coming out of Afghanistan now, we’re scrapping nuclear weapons. We would have built up popular support for those policies.”

Update on Brian Quail: The anti-nuclear protestor who brought an armed Ministry of Defence convoy to a halt is facing jail. Brian Quail (78) lay underneath an armoured personnel carrier as the convoy passed beneath Stirling Castle en route to the Royal Navy’s base at Coulport on Loch Long. His actions caused the 800-metre string of vehicles to come to an immediate halt, blocking a crucial roundabout beside Stirling fire station and causing traffic chaos for nearly 30 minutes at the start of the evening rush hour. After a three hour trial, Justice of the Peace Michael Bromby found Quail guilty fined him £200 – a penalty Quail said he would not pay, putting him at risk of jail.